Water treating apparatus



Dec. 8, 1942. A. J. CHESSON WATER TREATiNG APPARATUS Filed Dec. 17, 1940f! I 4 ivv 3nnentor:

Fir/DREW J. CHEssoN Gttorncg 5 Patented Dec. 8, 1942 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE 2,304,626 WATER TREATING APPARATUS Andrew J. Chesson,Miami, Fla. Applicatidn December 17, 1940, Serial No. 370,506

1 Claim.

This invention relates to an apparatus for treating water and forms acontinuation in part of my co-pending patent application, Serial Number202,921, filed April 18, 1938.

I have found that water can be more efiectively treated by providing aby-pass from the water main which will direct a certain percentage ofthe total fiow over solidified cakes of chemical treating compound.These cakes are placed in a closed container having an inlet and anoutlet by-pass pipe piercing opposite sides of the top. When thecontainer is filled with cakes of treating compound, the water will flowimmediately over the top cake from th inlet to the outlet pipe, giving awashing effect to the top of the uppermost cake. However, as cakes areabsorbed from the top, a greater space will be disposed above the top ofthe uppermost cake, therefore, the outlet of the incoming pipe will bedisposed so far above the chemicals that the flow will be dissipated inthe water therebetween, thus preventing the top cake from being washedby the incoming water. It is very desirable to have this cake constantlywashed by the incoming water, because there is a tendency forsedimentation in the water to settle on the top of the uppermost cakeand prevent the chemicals therein from becoming readily accessible tothe water as it passes thereover.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a closed casingwith a plurality of chemical cakes therein, said casing having an inletbypass pipe communicating with one side of the top and also having anoutlet by-pass pipe communicating with the other side of the top with atelescopic pipe slidably disposed within said inlet pipe and having itsoutlet and resting upon the uppermost cake so that as the cake isconsumed, the telescopic pipe will move downwardly and keep in contactwith the upper side thereof. In the present embodiment of the invention,a scariiier is provided which has means associated therewith fornormally keeping the lower end of this pipe in contact with theuppermost cake. This scarifier also rests on the top of the uppermostcake and by virtue of its weight it is caused to move downwardly incontact with the upper surface of the cake as the same is washed awayand at the same time the telescopic pipe is carried downwardly alongwith it.

A further object of this invention is to provide an apparatus fortreating water of the class described comprising a container having aninlet pipe and an outlet pipe disposed on opposed edges of the top sideof said container, said container having a plurality of cakes ofmaterial therein and each cake having compartments therein in whichvarious chemicals are placed in separate units.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objectswill appear as the description proceeds, when taken in connection withthe accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is an elevation of a watertreating apparatus;

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken through the lower portionof Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along the lines 33 in Figures 1 and 2Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional view similar to Figure 2 but showing aslightly modified form of the cake structure disposed within the casing;

Figure 5 is a sectional plan view taken alon the line 55 inFigure 4.

Referring more specifically to the drawingpthe I numeral l0 denotes awater supply main through which water is adapted to flow from anysuitable source such as a reservoir to a dispensing point such as aspigot. Disposed in this pipe is the upper end of a Pitot tube II, theopen end of which is directed against the flow of the water in the mainID. This tube II has a union l2 and a check valve l 4 installed thereinand the lower end of this tube is connected to a suitable hand valve I5.Leading from the lower side of the hand valve I5 is a larger pipe I6 andits lower end is threadably secured in cap I'I, said cap being securedto the upper side of a container l8 by any suitable means such as boltsl9. Leadirig from the cover I! and at substantially '180 degrees fromthe pipe I5 is an outlet 'pipe 20, the upper end of which communicateswith the water main ID. This pipe 20 has installed therein a suitableVisualizer 22 and a union 23.

The water travels through the main In from left to right (Figure 1) anda portion thereof is directed downwardly through Pitot tube II. It isseen that this tube is bent on the interior of the main l0 so that aportion of the flow will be bypassed. The water then flows downwardlythrough pipe l5 into the casing l8 and from this casing it movesupwardly through pipe 20 and back into the main Ill.

The casing l8 has disposed therein suitable cakes of chemical compound.These cakes are designated by the reference characters 25, 26, 21, 28and 29. Any suitable composition of materials may be employed in thecake of softening material, such as the mixture of colloidal clay,sodium silicate, soda ash and borax. Another suitable composition maycomprise crystallized trisodium phosphate, 95 parts, and sodiummetasilic'ate, pentahydrate 17 parts. These cakes are placed in thecasing, leaving a crack about half an inch wide between the outerperiphery of the cakes and the interior surface of the casing. Then amixture of 90 percent trisodium phosphate and 10 percent metasodiumsilicate is poured into this crack, thereby forming a seal 36 betweenthe various cakes and to hold the cakes in proper position and in spacedrelation from the interior of the container.

The uppermost cake is adapted to have rest thereon a suitable scarifler31. This scarifier has teeth 38 in the lower face thereof which engagethe top side of the upper cake 25. Also disposed in scarifler 31 are aplurality of vertically disposed holes 39 to allow water to circulatedownwardly through this member and onto the top surface of the uppercake 25 and thereby assist in preventing sedimentation from collectingon the top side. The scarifler 31 is fixedly keyed upon a vertical shaft46, said shaft being rotatably mounted in the central portion of thecover l1 and having a wheel 4| secured to the upper end thereof, so thatthe entire scarifying unit may be rotated to roughen the upper surfaceof the upper cake. Integral with this wheel 4| is a pointer 4|a which isdisposed adjacent a suitable gauge 42 having a suitable scale thereon toindicate the amount of chemical compound disposed within the casingtherebelow.

In order to insure that the water will always enter the casing l8 at apoint immediately above the uppermost cake of chemical compound, asuitable pipe 45 has been telescopically mounted within pipe IS. Thelower end of this pipe is bent inwardly as at 46 and is adapted to restimmediately above the top cake. The pipe 45 has an arm 48 secured aroundits lower end directly above the bent portion and this arm has its otherend rotatably mounted around the upper portion of scarifler 31. As thecakes are absorbed by the water which passes inwardly through the pipe46 and outwardly through pipe 20, the scarifler will move downwardly byvirtue of its own weight. At the same time, the pipe 45 will be causedto move downwardly since the arm 48 makes this pipe an integral part ofthe scarifler. It is seen by observing Figure 2 that this pipe is sodisposed that the flow of the incoming water will be directed againstthe upper surface of the uppermost cake of chemical compound, and sincethe flow is in such close proximity to the top of the cake, thescarifler 31 will be assisted materially in preventing sedimentationfrom collecting on top of the uppermost cake.

The top cake has a hole 50 extending vertically therethrough and thishole is adapted to communicate with a frustro-conical hole in the upperportion of the cake 26, said conically disposed bore, in turn,communicating with a compartment 52 which has a partition 53 dividingthe same. This partition extends about threequarters the depth of thecompartment 52 and is adapted to have a suitable treating compound suchas powdered borax 54 disposed on one side and flake soap 55 disposed onthe other side. The water which passes over the uppermost cake will haveaccess to this flake soap and powdered borax through the bore 50.

The cake 26 also has a vertically disposed bore 61 disposed therethroughand this bore communicates with the conically disposed bore 5| in thenext lowermost cake 21. Cakes 26, 21 and 28 are identical in allrespects, hence like referever, that the partitions 53 have their lowerends disposed directly above the bores 51 in cakes 21 and 26, therebypreventing any water from gaining access to the lowermost cakes untilafter the partition has been completely washed away. The lowermost cake29 in the bottom of the container likewise has a compartment 52 with apartition 53 therein, but this cake does not have a vertically disposedbore 51. Instead, a compartment 66 is provided having a partition 6|disposed therein extending substantially threequarters of the height ofthe compartment. As in the superposed cakes, powdered borax 54 isdisposed on one side and flake soap is disposed on the other side of thepartition. Communieating with the upper portion of the compartment 66 isa restricted bore 64. This bore does not extend to the top of the cake29, but a thin portion of the cake closes the upper portion of thishole. When the lowermost cake has been partially washed away, theopening 64 will be opened, thereby making the flake soap and thepowdered borax in compartment 66 accessible to the water.

Figures 4 and 5 show a slightly modified form of the invention which isidentical to the preceding form except the cake structure is slightlydifferent. In this form suitable cakes 65, 66, 61, 68 and 69 areprovided and all of these cakes are identical except the top and bottomcakes 65 and 69. Metasodium silicate is sometimes mixed in these cakesfor boiler use to eliminate rust. The top cake 65 has a verticallydisposed bore 16 therein, which extends the entire depth of the cake.The lower end of this bore is adapted to communicate with conical bore1| and compartment 12 in the adjacent cake 66, this compartment beingseparated by partitions 13 and 14, thereby forming three receptacles.One of these receptacles contains borax 15, another contains soap 16 andthe other contains a sterilizing or other agency 11 such as causticsoda, tannic acid or soda ash. Instead of the above-named compounds, anysuitable water treating agency may be used in the receptacles tocondition the water for a particular use. For example, metasodiumsilicate may be used in a receptacle where the water is to be treatedfor boiler use. The water which passes over the top of the uppermostcake 65 also flows down into the bore 19 and into compartment 12 toabsorb portions of ence characters will apply. It will be noted, howthetreating agencies 15, 16 and 11. The lower portion of the partition 14rests directly upon the top of the bore 16 in the next lowermostadjacent cake 61 thereby closing the same. Therefore, it is seen thatthe compound in the cake 61 is not contacted by the water until all ofthe first cake 65 has been used. At that time,

the water will be allowed to seep downwardly through bore 16 in cake 66from whence it will come in contact with the chemicals 15, 16, and 11the cake 61. When the cake 66 has been completely washed away then thepartition 14 will have been dissolved to open bore 10 in the nextlowermost cake 61 to thereby bring the compounds 15, 16 and 11 in thecake 68 in contact with the water which flows at this time above thecake 61. As in the preceding case, the cakes 65 to 69 are sealed withinthe casing l8 by a mixture of per cent trisodium phosphate and 10 percent metasodium silicate, which is poured between the exterior peripheryof the cakes and the interior periphery of the casing thereby forming asealed joint 36.

The lowermost cake 69 also has a compartthe top of the cake. been washedaway except the bottom cake 69 and ment 80 separated by partitions BIand 82. A frustro-conical bore 83 communicates with the top ofcompartment 80. A small portion of cake E9 separates'the upper portionof bore 83 from After all the cakes have after this cake has been usedfor a short time the compounds in compartment 80 will be brought incontact with the water thereabove. The uppermost cake 65 does not have acompartment 12 or 80 therein.

In the drawing and specification, there has been set forth a preferredembodiment of the invention and although specific terms are employed,they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for thepurpose of limitation, the scopeof the invention being set forth in theappended claim.

I claim:

A cake of water softening material adapted to be placed in a container,said cake comprising a plurality of superposed layers of water.

softening material, the lowermost layer having a pair of cavitiestherein for reception of additional water treating material, one of thecavities communicating with the upper surface of the lowermost layer,the intermediate layers each having a cavity for reception of watertreating materials and communicating with the upper surface of the layerand also having a. hole therethrough communicating with a cavity in thesubjacent layer, the topmostlayer having a hole therethroughcommunicating with the cavity in the subjacent layer, whereby waterentering and leaving the top of the container will gradually andprogressively wash away the layers while at the same time having contactwith the cavity in the next subjacent layer to dissolve the treatingmaterials in the cavity in the subjacent layer.

ANDREW J. CHESSON.

